Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 14, 2023

in a time capsule [reentry 2008]

there are a lot of people and events that may come in someone's life but only a few will truly touch and etch a memory. high school without debate is one of them. here you will get to meet people from all walks of life, in several manners, mostly awkward since this is the stage when individuals are battling within--->

i am too young to be an adult, too old to be a child (read: adolescence). in this very stage, we tend to create personalities that we perceive to be pleasing to others. no one to blame: men are social beings- the more they behave the way society dictates them to be, the better it is for everybody. when i was thirteen i met this somewhat deviant classmate-dave. he is not like my bestfriend kristoffer (see him in blog entry BF-EVER), really! he was different!...

at such a young age, he seemed to be unmindful of what others may think of him, of his acts, of his words. don't get me wrong, he was seldom unpleasant but always always surprising. his surge of emotions will bring turmoil to a tamed conforming person. his laughter is contagious but so is his anger. his chivalry will make you smile but his apathy will make you cry too. i have tried to look at dave from a different perspective. (at 13, i thought i was a philosopher, a psychologist, or maybe just another lost soul waiting to be found again).

i saw him persevere as much as i saw him get wasted with foolishness. i saw his leadership, and his hardheadedness as well. i saw him falling in and out of love, hear him shouting and whisper at different times. he was a friend to me (or maybe i was a friend to him) ...i had time with him in a capsule. why dave? coz he reminds me that life is too short to be wasted on hiding and pretending to be so-oh-good when you can taste every detail of badness and somehow learn from it.

but years passed i lost track of my subject--- too many thoughts, too many people, too little time i guess. as we entered the university, i see little and little of him. once i saw him laughing with a group of thug-looking students in a kiosk-they all seem to be enjoying their chat, laughing boisterously at times. once i saw him all alone in a path from one building to another, i tried to catch up on him and ask how he was, he halted, stared at me confusingly, and just smiled. i dismissed it as a call to accept that the dave i knew, though nothing has changed physically somehow isn't exactly the same (who doesn't change anyway?).

i saw him a couple of times in a telecoverage of a campus demonstration (that made me smile and reminded me of my foolishness years before). and then nothing, just news that he graduated and somehow tried to conform in his own way. now...(fast forward) dave has popped out of nowhere and is keeping in touch (truly challenges my thoughts, and philosophies in more ways than one). my time in a capsule with him is opened and remembered but a new capsule is to be made (and so is a new blog entry?). he is a family man, a trusted employee, and a fun friend (though he always refutes coz he has different perspective of the word 'friend').

he still is the dave who helped me cope with culture-shock by making me more shocked (ready, set-laugh!), the dave who helped me bring the trash to the pit (and irritatingly threw the trashcan too when i jokingly suggested so---grrr!), the dave who shouts at her girl in the school campus, the dave who loves to tease --- he is the dave who fought with goliath (read: goliath=the need to conform) and won. there are a lot of people and events that may come in someone's life but only a few will truly touch and etch a memory. dave without debate is one of them.

Wednesday, January 12, 2022

she's rose, she rose... (throwback 2015)


I witnessed someone shedding tears for a dear departed. 

I asked myself, why do we do that? 
(I do that all the time and I regret it specially when 
I'm with others who are obviously living and 
continuously battling the tides of life) . 
Later that day, I was given a sad news 
of another young friend's passing. Heart attack at 29... 
To remove my mind from possibly condemning such weakness, 
I thought of paying tribute to someone still alive. 
So she'd be able to read my thoughts about her instead of saving it 
for some time else :)



Ms.Rose, thank you for your 14 years 
of serving the Business College office. 
You have been with several bosses and workmates 
and you have successfully proven that tolerance, patience, 
humility and the acceptance of the fact that you are not perfect 
(who is...? anyways) but will continue to learn, relearn or unlearn 
depending upon the needs of the times. There were bad days, 
some bad moves but there were a lot of good ones too. 

However ways, you deal with the ins and outs of days 
like a true soldier of  fortune. 
You are a friend to almost everyone 
(your trying to keep peace are at times misunderstood), 
you are an uncomplaining workmate 
(haha, you do complain, yes? but you try to make it through), 
you are a loving wife 
(we seldom hear you badmouth your spouse) 
and a cool mom 
(dancing, singing, reading, watching shows & 
conversing with your dalaginding). 
You are a good daughter and sister too. 

Given those facts and the upcoming years 
which I am certain will still be filled with challenges, 
I could only pray that you'd be given enough strength and 
divine guidance and overwhelming drive to be your usual cheery 
yet efficient self or better.
Do know that we appreciate your presence 
in our working lives. We thank you for helping us in ways you knew how. 
With you, we will keep trying to fulfill our purpose in this world.

Friday, August 31, 2018

rape is not a laughing matter


People will never understand
the emotional pain of being raped.
Or still feeling dirty 22 years later.
Or blaming yourself because
you would think that you might
have done something to deserve it.
Or hating a particular scent because
your rapist commented that you smell good in it.
Or hating how you look like and even
calling it a curse because you thought
that it was the reason why you were sexually assaulted.
Or letting yourself go hoping that men
wouldn't find you attractive anymore.
Or the urge to leave everything behind
so the pain would just stop.
Only people who experienced the same violence
will ever understand it.
.
[M.Magallanes, Aug.31,2018]
.
#RapeIsNotAJoke #RapeIsNotALaughingMatter #StopVAWC
#BabaeAko #Respect #WomensRights #SexualHarassment
#RapeIsACrime #MayRespetoAngMgaBisaya #DiliKatawAnan

Saturday, January 10, 2015

message to a killer

I don't see why I cant sleep
yet you can
I don't get why we're hurt
and you aren't
I don't know you,
your want nor your past
It may have been sad
but that doesn't mean
you have to be cruel
nor does that
give you the right to take her life away...


Wherever you are now,

remember her face.

Remember

the daughter,
the workmate,
the student,
the friend
you took from us...

Remember Jap.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

wowa's christmas

they say christmas is for kids...oh well that would always be the case, coz unlike adults they wont be thinking of the gifts to give but thinking about what gifts theyd get...my wowa is somewhat different coz he doesnt think much about the gifts hed get...he even begged me to buy gifts for his dozen friends in the neighborhood. i was worried he might be thinking of expensive gifts, but hey, he just wanted to give them play cards. i immediately went to the nearest thrift market in manila (divisoria) to buy those so when i go home for christmas, twud be ready for giving. my my he was so happy when he saw them, and he looked doubly happy giving those to this friends who seemed to be very happy getting them too. oh kids!

christmas day came...dear wowa was appreciative of the gifts he got too. here's what as far as i can remember:

GIFTS FOR HIS LONG-RUNNING BUSINESS PLAN (aka addition for his savings in the bank - ang pao) came from maam maricar, maam gudeh, lola salve, lolo daddy/lola mommy and tito jun...and wallet from his papa. as of now, he has more than a thousand (pesos) in the banks keeping, few hundreds in his wallet...and he plans of opening a small toy store next year. i so love his no-nonsense planning hence, all-out support! teeheehee.

GIFTS FOR HIS EVER-CURIOUS MIND came from tita irene (puzzle), tita dyali and ate luntian (coloring book and his usual supply of storybooks sometimes with authors/illustrators sig- bongga!), ninang anji (book- robindhood), tito edmar (book of stories), tita analyn and tito joven (puzzles- he loves puzzles, says theyre challenging),  tito kristoffer and tita sharon (project volcano straight from the US) and tita hanie (stamps). he loves each...and its really touching seeing the books by his bedside with a bookmark on the page where he stopped reading just like a grown man.

GIFTS FOR SCHOOL came from sir alvin (lunch container), ninang joyax (bottles of cologne), tita faith (sandal slippers) and kuya jikjik (hooded shirt). everything in-active use now!

GIFTS FOR THE EVER-PLAYFUL-ACTIVE HIM came from lola fely (a basketball), maam vicky (a soccer ball), tita jovelyn (phoenix beyblade set- blurting out 'i like that so much!), tito jz (assorted gummies - power munch) and me (pokemon cards in a big can- special request). he keeps on saying 'im glad i got this gift' everytime he sees/uses one.

this message comes with heartfelt thanks to them all for making wowas christmas fun and exciting. but most of all- thanks for being our 'help' as we guide him in his growing-up journey. happy new year!

Sunday, December 5, 2010

i was right- UGAT rocked!

in celebration of the glorious decades in pinoy music history, great pinoy folk rock artists performed together for the first time in a one-night concert dubbed ugat: ang himig natin

the concert, (december 3rd at the araneta coliseum) featured the juan dela cruz band (mike hanopol, pepe smith, wally gonzales), lolita carbon of asin, sampaguita, heber bartolome (and banyuhay), and florante (certified pasimpleng comic-walang kupas). 

manong gary granada and noel cabangon (to my delight) were also there. as mike hanopol puts it : "one of the great things that we have to do is to make sure that when we fade out, we will be able to pass the great music that we had then to the next generation". here's their opening medley [thanks to iamwalrus] . 

these pinoy icons performed their signature hits - himig natin, bonggahan, laguna, masdan mo ang kapaligiran, pagbabalik, itanong mo sa mga bata, tayo'y mga pinoy, nena, handog, mabuti pa sila, kahit konti, kanlungan, and titser's enemi#1 among others. they really rocked the big dome with audience (us included!) dancing and singing with them all throughout. 

surely, that was a night i'd forever cherish! 
[thanks shellz for the pixs...thanks claire for the you know...backpass, ahay---weeehhhh]